Maple Leafs Push Hard but Detroit's Goalie Turns Them Away in Heartbreaking Finish

Different day, same story for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they fell 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings on Thanksgiving Monday afternoon.

Jumping out to a 2-0 deficit, they were able to pull it back thanks to Calle Jarnkrok and Matthew Knies, but some bad decisions and bad luck cost them the game.

It was a brutal icing then an unfortunate set of bounces that led to Mason Appleton being the hero for the Red Wings and wiring a shot past Anthony Stolarz to seal the deal.

Toronto was dominant all night at least in terms of the shot department as they outshot the Red Wings 41-15, and at one point Detroit had gone 12 minutes without a shot.

For perspective, Auston Matthews alone had eight shots but just couldn't get through Talbot who stood on his head including twice against Matthews in one play:

Toronto also outhit the Red Wings but were brutal when it came to giveaways, and once again had their discipline be the cause of another goal; and it's becoming an issue for Craig Berube.

Though to be fair, with calls like this one on Simon Benoit, there wasnt much the Leafs could do about it:

One positive coming out of the loss was the debut of Easton Cowan. While he didnt score, he did put in a heck of a performance and was consistently finding good passes and playing solid defense:

He finished the game with one shot and three blocks while playing just over 14 minutes of ice-time; a very solid debut that should give him another chance tomorrow night against Nashville.

Also worryingly was how quiet John Tavares and William Nylander were, with Tavares having one shot, two hits, a minus-1 and only 16-05 TOI meanwhile Nylander didn't fare much better and was a minus-2 in 19:24; they need to get it going fast.

It was the tale of two stories tonight as Toronto was able to neutralize the Detroit offense, also helped along by forward Lucas Raymond leaving the game; but they just couldn't solve Talbot who was unreal.

Next up for the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-2-0) are the Nashville Predators (2-0-1) as they play their second of a back-to-back, and look for redemption after a tough loss.

Nashville was victorious over the Ottawa Senators on Monday and look to make it two in a row in Ontario on Tuesday night.